Asics Onitsuka Tiger

In 1949 Kihachiro Onitsuka, took a look around his hometown of Kobe, Japan and felt that something was missing. He felt that the youth of Japan needed a more positive lifestyle and a sense of community after WWII. Kihachiro believed the best way to lift spirits was through sport. After developing a basketball shoe and various other sneakers, in 1953, Onitsuka teamed up with marathon runners to develop a line of running shoes that would keep long distance runners from developing blisters and help to improve their running distance. In a time when runners would go barefoot, there was a lot of scepticism that wearing a shoe would increase speed and distance.

1966 saw the introduction of the iconic ASICS stripes, which were introduced at the pre-Olympic tryouts for the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico. Asics still manufactures styles from their vintage collection of Onitsuka Tiger shoes, including the timeless MEXICO 66.